San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Third District candidate Neil Derry is a city councilmember, representing the Fourth Ward of his city. As such an elected official, San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry is listed as a "city councilmember" as one of his occupations on the San Bernardino County's official June 2008 primary ballot.

San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's other listed ballot designation for occupation is that of "businessman."

Interesting profession of "businessman" listed for San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's profession. Here is how the website of San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's supervisorial campaign describes his biography:

Currently, Neil is employed as Region Manager for Southern California Edison. Prior to this position, he worked as a Project Administrator for the San Bernardino County Treasurer's Office and as a Senior Account Executive for Stoorza Communications (now O'Reilly Public Relations), specializing in Public Affairs work. He began his career working as a Field Representative and Campaign Manager for then Assemblyman Fred Aguiar.

So, managing a "region" for utility giant Southern California Edison suddenly qualifies San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry as a "businessman?" How? Does San Bernardino City Councilmember Derry manage a significant number of Southern California Edison employees? Is San Bernardino City Councilmember Derry responsible for the utility's business tax payments? Is the councilmember DIRECTLY responsible for the corporation's business expansion and continued prosperity? 

What leadership role does San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry play in Southern California Edison?

The answer appears to be: Not much. San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's role with Edison is limited to him representing the utility corporation and its real leadership before city councils, state and federal lawmakers, and local chambers of commerce. San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's only function is to serve as a corporate emissary - a corporate spokesperson, if you will - selling the benefits of the utility powerhouse to select interest groups.

San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry's depiction of himself as a "businessman" is slightly accurate in that his primary source of personal income now comes from the private sector of our economy, and no longer state and county taxpayers, which for an extended period of time had been San Bernardino City Councilmember Derry's exclusive source of personal income.

However, it appears San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry is trying to deliberately deceive the voters of the Third Supervisorial District into thinking he owns - or at least manages - a small business by designating himself as a "businessman" on the county's official ballot. San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry, a career politician and government employee whose most significant accomplishment on his beleaguered city's council was to author a measure to significantly raise his own city council salary, in reality, has never owned or ran a small business.

It should be noted that at a recent municipal election Neil Derry's attempt to boost his own taxpayer-funded city council salary failed, as do many of Derry's council initiatives. The voters of Neil Derry's city said no to Derry's plea for more govenment-financed salary.

By the admission of his own official biography, San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry has never  been the proprietor of a business nor signed the front of a paycheque. He has, however, over the course of his professional career, collected combined salaries totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. First from state and city taxpayers and now a corporate utility giant where his role with that company is to curry favour with politicians and local governments.

San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry a businessman? That's like referring to a juror as an attorney at law because, after all, the juror did work in a courthouse, just like a real lawyer!

San Bernardino City Councilmember Neil Derry faces incumbent Dennis Hansberger in the race for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors' Third District in June 2008.

(Thanks SB Veritas for interrupting a perfectly good Lakers game)